Though strategic meetings management has been around for several years, many companies have yet to embrace the practice. To encourage more widespread adoption, the National Business Travel Association's Groups and Meetings Committee plans to debut its SMMP Toolkit at August's 2010 International Convention & Exposition. Committee members during a panel discussion at the Houston convention plan to address the challenges to SMMP implementation and offer tools from the new toolkit to help overcome those obstacles. Several committee members plan to discuss why companies have been so slow to take up strategic meetings management. Their thoughts follow.
One word: time.There are many steps involved in implementing a SMMP: analyzing the opportunity, estimating the savings, building a business case, obtaining stakeholder buy-in, designing financial and service models, staffing and choosing the right technology. The amount of time it takes to develop the plan can be extensive.
Perceived cost.The cost of the program must be analyzed, a funding model designed and a return on investment prepared for executive management. A solid business case must be developed, with examples of the savings opportunity, so that the SMMP is not perceived as a cost, but as a savings opportunity.
Resistance by planners.Many meeting planners and administrative assistants fear losing "their" meetings because they have taken personal ownership of each and every event. They also don't want to lose the associated visibility, authority and departmental power. They need to be convinced that partnering with the internal meetings department will still allow them to be stars.
Resistance by individual departments.Budget visibility is held tight by departments that do not want the meetings department staff to control their meetings. This makes it difficult to effectively consolidate and best leverage all appropriate spend categories (for example, to book back-to-back or concurrent meetings for different divisions at one property). Divisional control issues also prevent the opportunity to deploy branded registration sites to provide online registration and event marketing.
Lack of data to support a SMMP.Many companies have no idea how much is spent on meetings, nor do they know how many meetings take place in a year. Researching purchase order, credit card and/or vendor data, along with surveying the employee population, is a huge task.
Lack of executive buy-in.Senior management needs to understand what a managed meetings program is; most have no idea of the scope or the possibilities. A sponsor is crucial or the program goes nowhere, which is why you need a business case that distills the benefits down to talking points and savings.
[PULL_1] A weak link to procurement.Even if your procurement department is not already involved in meetings, it can be very beneficial to have them included. But some meeting managers don't try to build that relationship. Procurement departments have a lot of influence in companies; in large companies, they can collectively manage billions of dollars. Senior management pays attention to what they have to say, and they can be a strong advocate for strategic meetings management.
Not enough internal marketing.Often, an individual or small group of individuals within a company "get it" and attempt to launch a SMMP within their organization. However, they lack the appropriate skills, executive access and ability to fully sell it internally in a manner that will gain enough traction.
Lengthy process.A SMMP may take longer than at first anticipated. Like an orchestra, you have to make sure all players are tuned up before you perform. The foundation must be solid: A well-trained staff, a few years of solid data tracking, an established preferred supplier program, a user-friendly Web registration program, clear communication channels, a meetings policy (ideally, one that's mandated) and good working relationships with internal departments--such as legal and risk management--should all be in place before launching a SMMP.
All too often, organizations envision what they believe to be a "perfect" SMMP and seek that right from the gate, rather than realistically mapping a path to the desired state. They then become overwhelmed and paralyzed, and don't act.
Sources: NBTA Groups and Meetings Committee members Kari Bigot, Tim Bone, Ellen Connolly, Tamara Gordon, Shirley Kuhole and Linda McNairy